Reader Response Essay- “Little Fires Everywhere” Excerpt

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Reader Response Essay- “Little Fires Everywhere” Excerpt

Shaker Heights was a residence established in the early eighteenth century, 1912. It was among the earliest planned communities as it had all the amenities situated in strategic places for the convenience of its residents. For instance, the schools were located in an area with no major streets to ensure children’s safety while commuting. Moreover, the side streets flawlessly connected to the main boulevards and the rapid-transit stop-overs that had been placed strategically to ferry the residents to Cleveland. Shaker Heights had many decent rentals that were quite affordable, such as the one owned by the Richardsons on Winslow Road. Several duplexes lined up on Winslow Road that appeared like single-owned house structures due to their well-planned setting. 

Observers from the outside could only see a single front door and light, one house number, and a single mailbox. One could only note the two houses – the upstairs and downstairs apartment- when viewing at a closer range, from the entryway. They had been designed to reduce the stigmatization of the residents on rent payment instead of being a house owner. It was also the city planners’ intention to make the streets more desirable in appearances. On the south side of Shaker Heights, the houses were entirely squeezed together, and the yards appeared seemingly smaller. There were specific rules to be observed in Shaker Heights such as the regular mowing of lawns, failure to which one would receive a stern letter from the city, and if not corrected, in three days, the city would mow the lawns and bill them a hundred dollars. 

There were different kinds of people that lived in Shaker Heights, such as the property owners like the Richardson family, some tenants such as Mr. Yang, and Mia, together with her daughter Pearl. The Richardsons owned a duplex property that they collected five hundred dollars every month, which was directed to their vacation fund. Although the houses were pricey in Shaker Heights, they kept the rent prices low as Cleveland was quite cheap. They were kind-hearted people that operated their rental homes as a form of charity to deserving people who they thought deserved more in life, but life had treated them quite unfairly. 

According to the excerpt from “Little Fires Everywhere,” there were different tenants that lived in Shaker Heights. Some of them were Mr. Yang, a kind and hardworking Chinese immigrant who worked as a school bus driver at Laurel Academy. He ensured the house stayed in pristine conditions as he regularly maintained it. Mia was also a single mother who had moved in the upstairs duplex and lived with her daughter Pearl. Although little was known of her work and what medium of art she had ventured, she was an artist. There were ordinary people leading different lives, such as the cellist who left the city after being denied the first position in the Cleveland Orchestra as he had been hired to teach at the Institute of Music. There was also a divorcee that had opted to remarry after a few months and moved to Lakewood in a McMansion. There had also been a young, loving couple that had broken up after a year and a half and left behind a broken lease, wall cracks, and broken vases. 

Work Cited

Ng, Celeste. “Read This Excerpt From Celeste Ng’s New Novel “Little Fires Everywhere.”” BuzzFeed News, 8 September 2017.